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Lamentations 2

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1 πῶς ἐγνόφωσεν ἐν ὀργῇ αὐτοῦ κύριος τὴν θυγατέρα σιων κατέρριψεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ εἰς γῆν δόξασμα ισραηλ καὶ οὐκ ἐμνήσθη ὑποποδίου ποδῶν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ

2 κατεπόντισεν κύριος οὐ φεισάμενος πάντα τὰ ὡραῖα ιακωβ καθεῖλεν ἐν θυμῷ αὐτοῦ τὰ ὀχυρώματα τῆς θυγατρὸς ιουδα ἐκόλλησεν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐβεβήλωσεν βασιλέα αὐτῆς καὶ ἄρχοντας αὐτῆς

3 συνέκλασεν ἐν ὀργῇ θυμοῦ αὐτοῦ πᾶν κέρας ισραηλ ἀπέστρεψεν ὀπίσω δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ προσώπου ἐχθροῦ καὶ ἀνῆψεν ἐν ιακωβ ὡς πῦρ φλόγα καὶ κατέφαγεν πάντα τὰ κύκλῳ

4 ἐνέτεινεν τόξον αὐτοῦ ὡς ἐχθρός ἐστερέωσεν δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ ὡς ὑπεναντίος καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν πάντα τὰ ἐπιθυμήματα ὀφθαλμῶν μου ἐν σκηνῇ θυγατρὸς σιων ἐξέχεεν ὡς πῦρ τὸν θυμὸν αὐτοῦ

5 ἐγενήθη κύριος ὡς ἐχθρός κατεπόντισεν ισραηλ κατεπόντισεν πάσας τὰς βάρεις αὐτῆς διέφθειρεν τὰ ὀχυρώματα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπλήθυνεν τῇ θυγατρὶ ιουδα ταπεινουμένην καὶ τεταπεινωμένην

6 καὶ διεπέτασεν ὡς ἄμπελον τὸ σκήνωμα αὐτοῦ διέφθειρεν ἑορτὴν αὐτοῦ ἐπελάθετο κύριος ὃ ἐποίησεν ἐν σιων ἑορτῆς καὶ σαββάτου καὶ παρώξυνεν ἐμβριμήματι ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ βασιλέα καὶ ἱερέα καὶ ἄρχοντα

7 ἀπώσατο κύριος θυσιαστήριον αὐτοῦ ἀπετίναξεν ἁγίασμα αὐτοῦ συνέτριψεν ἐν χειρὶ ἐχθροῦ τεῖχος βάρεων αὐτῆς φωνὴν ἔδωκαν ἐν οἴκῳ κυρίου ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἑορτῆς

8 καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν κύριος τοῦ διαφθεῖραι τεῖχος θυγατρὸς σιων ἐξέτεινεν μέτρον οὐκ ἀπέστρεψεν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ καταπατήματος καὶ ἐπένθησεν τὸ προτείχισμα καὶ τεῖχος ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἠσθένησεν

9 ἐνεπάγησαν εἰς γῆν πύλαι αὐτῆς ἀπώλεσεν καὶ συνέτριψεν μοχλοὺς αὐτῆς βασιλέα αὐτῆς καὶ ἄρχοντας αὐτῆς ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος καί γε προφῆται αὐτῆς οὐκ εἶδον ὅρασιν παρὰ κυρίου

10 ἐκάθισαν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐσιώπησαν πρεσβύτεροι θυγατρὸς σιων ἀνεβίβασαν χοῦν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν περιεζώσαντο σάκκους κατήγαγον εἰς γῆν ἀρχηγοὺς παρθένους ἐν ιερουσαλημ

11 ἐξέλιπον ἐν δάκρυσιν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου ἐταράχθη ἡ καρδία μου ἐξεχύθη εἰς γῆν ἡ δόξα μου ἐπὶ τὸ σύντριμμα τῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ λαοῦ μου ἐν τῷ ἐκλιπεῖν νήπιον καὶ θηλάζοντα ἐν πλατείαις πόλεως

12 ταῖς μητράσιν αὐτῶν εἶπαν ποῦ σῖτος καὶ οἶνος ἐν τῷ ἐκλύεσθαι αὐτοὺς ὡς τραυματίας ἐν πλατείαις πόλεως ἐν τῷ ἐκχεῖσθαι ψυχὰς αὐτῶν εἰς κόλπον μητέρων αὐτῶν

13 τί μαρτυρήσω σοι ἢ τί ὁμοιώσω σοι θύγατερ ιερουσαλημ τίς σώσει σε καὶ παρακαλέσει σε παρθένος θύγατερ σιων ὅτι ἐμεγαλύνθη ποτήριον συντριβῆς σου τίς ἰάσεταί σε

14 προφῆταί σου εἴδοσάν σοι μάταια καὶ ἀφροσύνην καὶ οὐκ ἀπεκάλυψαν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀδικίαν σου τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι αἰχμαλωσίαν σου καὶ εἴδοσάν σοι λήμματα μάταια καὶ ἐξώσματα

15 ἐκρότησαν ἐπὶ σὲ χεῖρας πάντες οἱ παραπορευόμενοι ὁδόν ἐσύρισαν καὶ ἐκίνησαν τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν θυγατέρα ιερουσαλημ ἦ αὕτη ἡ πόλις ἣν ἐροῦσιν στέφανος δόξης εὐφροσύνη πάσης τῆς γῆς

16 διήνοιξαν ἐπὶ σὲ στόμα αὐτῶν πάντες οἱ ἐχθροί σου ἐσύρισαν καὶ ἔβρυξαν ὀδόντας εἶπαν κατεπίομεν αὐτήν πλὴν αὕτη ἡ ἡμέρα ἣν προσεδοκῶμεν εὕρομεν αὐτήν εἴδομεν

17 ἐποίησεν κύριος ἃ ἐνεθυμήθη συνετέλεσεν ῥήματα αὐτοῦ ἃ ἐνετείλατο ἐξ ἡμερῶν ἀρχαίων καθεῖλεν καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσατο καὶ ηὔφρανεν ἐπὶ σὲ ἐχθρόν ὕψωσεν κέρας θλίβοντός σε

18 ἐβόησεν καρδία αὐτῶν πρὸς κύριον τείχη σιων καταγάγετε ὡς χειμάρρους δάκρυα ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός μὴ δῷς ἔκνηψιν σεαυτῇ μὴ σιωπήσαιτο θύγατερ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου

19 ἀνάστα ἀγαλλίασαι ἐν νυκτὶ εἰς ἀρχὰς φυλακῆς σου ἔκχεον ὡς ὕδωρ καρδίαν σου ἀπέναντι προσώπου κυρίου ἆρον πρὸς αὐτὸν χεῖράς σου περὶ ψυχῆς νηπίων σου τῶν ἐκλυομένων λιμῷ ἐπ' ἀρχῆς πασῶν ἐξόδων

20 ἰδέ κύριε καὶ ἐπίβλεψον τίνι ἐπεφύλλισας οὕτως εἰ φάγονται γυναῖκες καρπὸν κοιλίας αὐτῶν ἐπιφυλλίδα ἐποίησεν μάγειρος φονευθήσονται νήπια θηλάζοντα μαστούς ἀποκτενεῖς ἐν ἁγιάσματι κυρίου ἱερέα καὶ προφήτην

21 ἐκοιμήθησαν εἰς τὴν ἔξοδον παιδάριον καὶ πρεσβύτης παρθένοι μου καὶ νεανίσκοι μου ἐπορεύθησαν ἐν αἰχμαλωσίᾳ ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ καὶ ἐν λιμῷ ἀπέκτεινας ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς σου ἐμαγείρευσας οὐκ ἐφείσω

22 ἐκάλεσεν ἡμέραν ἑορτῆς παροικίας μου κυκλόθεν καὶ οὐκ ἐγένοντο ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς κυρίου ἀνασῳζόμενος καὶ καταλελειμμένος ὡς ἐπεκράτησα καὶ ἐπλήθυνα ἐχθρούς μου πάντας

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #194

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194. And thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. That this signifies man's ignorance of that time, and of his state then, is evident from the signification of hour, as being the time when man is to die, and also his state at the time; and from the signification of not knowing it, as being ignorant. It is said, what hour I will come upon thee, namely, as a thief; and in the sense of the letter is hereby meant that the Lord would thus come, but in the spiritual sense it is meant that evils and falsities would steal the knowledges which they have from the Word; for, in the sense of the letter of the Word, it is attributed to Jehovah, or the Lord, that He does evil, but, in the spiritual sense it is meant that He does evil to no one, but that man does evil to himself (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2447, 5798, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7877, 7679, 7710, 7926, 8227, 8228, 8284, 8483, 8632, 9010, 9128, 9306, 10431).

[2] The reason why hour also signifies state is, because in the Word all times, as a day, a week, a month, a year, an age, signify states of life, and hence hour has a similar signification. (The cause of this may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 162-169, where time in heaven is treated of.)

But because hour signifies both time and state, therefore, where hour is mentioned in the Word it may to some extent be known that something other than time is signified by it.

In Matthew:

A householder hired labourers into his vineyard, who, laboured from the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh, and received an equal reward (Matthew 20:1-17).

By these hours in the world are meant times, but in heaven states of the life, because there are no hours in heaven, as times there are not measurable, and divided into days, and these into hours, as in the world, therefore instead of these they there perceive the states of the life of those who die, whether old, young, youths or children, who have alike procured to themselves spiritual life. To labour in the vineyard, denotes the procuring of spiritual life by means of knowledges of good and truth from the Word applied to the uses of life. (That a vineyard in the Word signifies the spiritual church, and spiritual life pertaining to man, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3220, 9139.) By the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours similar states of life are signified; for all numbers in the Word are significative, and those numbers have a similar signification. Three signifies a full state, or what is complete even to the end (see n. 2788, 4495, 7715, 8347, 9825). The like is signified by six and nine; but the number eleven signifies a state not yet full, but yet a state of reception, such as that of well-disposed children and infants. The twelfth hour up to which they all laboured, signifies truths and goods in their fulness (see n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913. That all numbers in the Word are significative, see n. 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253; and that multiplied numbers have a similar signification to the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication, hence three, six, and nine have a similar signification, see n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973).

[3] Since twelve signifies truths and goods in their fulness, and thus a state of light or of man's intelligence therefrom, the Lord says,

"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walk in the day, he stumbleth not" (John 11:9).

In other places, also by hours are signified states of life, as in the Apocalypse:

"The four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men" (9:15).

By the times here mentioned are meant states of evil in men, as will be seen when we come to the explanation of those words.

From these considerations it is now evident that by, Thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee, is meant man's ignorance not only of the time of his death, but also of the state of his life at that time, which state remains to eternity; for according to the quality of the state of man's past life even to the end of it, such he remains to eternity.

[4] Similar things are frequently said by the Lord in the Evangelists, as in Matthew:

"Ye know not in what hour your Lord doth come; be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man shall come" (24:42, 44).

Again:

"The lord of the servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of" (24:50).

And again:

"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man shall come" (25:13).

It must be known that a man remains to eternity such as the quality of his whole life has been to the end, and not at all such as he is at the hour of death; for repentance then in the case of the evil is of no avail, but with the good it confirms the state.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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Ezekiel 2:6

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6 You, son of man, don't be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: don't be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.